ALL SCI-FI

[Bud Brewster]

Despite the fact that the poster tells an outrageous lie by claiming there's a rocket streaking through space at some point in this movie, the movie itself is enjoyable.

But be advised: absolutely no rocket or space scenes of any kind ever make it to the screen.

What we get instead is an intelligent, interesting story in which Bill Williams and Robert Ellis play government investigators sent to a space center to examine a probe that returns to Earth with a sample of an alien fungus. Famous voice man Paul Frees plays the brilliant but cold scientist in charge of examining the strange organism found on the probe.

Frees is obsessed with the discovery, and he conducts experiments at his home laboratory, growing cultures in a large glass jar. But his work is interrupted by the arrival of lovely Lyn Thomas, his ex-wife, who wants to discuss the possibility of gaining custody of their son.

Frees is completely unsympathetic, and he proceeds with his experiments on the alien organism while his ex-wife remains as a guest in his house, periodically demanding that he reconsider his position concerning their son.

Miss Thomas eventually persuades Frees to give her custody of the child, but shortly after she leaves, Williams and Ellis discover that the alien organism has killed Frees. They suspect that Miss Thomas is a carrier of the organism, spreading it to other areas.

From this point on, the film is constructed as a documentary, complete with a Dragnet-style voice-over which provides the viewer with plot details and scientific facts. The authorities conduct a search for Miss Thomas, but she eludes them, mistakenly thinking that she is being blamed for the death of her ex-husband.

The manner in which Miss Thomas is somehow causing the periodic appearances of the alien organism is not made clear. This is one of the movie's chief flaws. The story saves its only creepy, atmospheric scenes until the very end. You may or may not feel that they're worth the wait.

On the up side, the story is reasonably fast-paced and unpredictable. In spite of its faults, this is a fairly competent little film from director Edward Bernds, one of the more active directors during the 1950s ("Queen of Outer Space", "World Without End", others).

Watch for a brief appearance at the beginning by Thomas Brown Henry ("Earth v.s. the Flying Saucers, "20 Millions Miles to Earth", many others). And look for Moe Howard of "The 3 Stooges" in a rare solo performance as a cab driver. It isn't just a cameo, and he does a fine job in this serious role.
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Bud Brewster]

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Enjoy this jazzy trailer from YouTube.

____________Space Master X-7 (1958) - Trailer


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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[orzel-w]

This was probably my first exposure to "blob" creatures in my childhood. A few years ago I acquired a "custom" (bootleg?) DVD of it. About the only scene I could recall from my initial viewing was the lab covered with the wiggly fungus and the human hand slipping below its surface.
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...or not...

WayneO
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[Bud Brewster]

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IMDB has 6 trivia items for this movie. Here's a few of the ones I found the most interesting.
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Moe Howard, of The Three Stooges fame, makes a cameo appearance as a cab driver. Production assistant Norman Maurer was Moe's son-in-law, and director Edward Bernds was a longtime friend and had directed many Three Stooges shorts and several of their features. Moe found himself out of work after more than 25 years when Columbia Pictures closed its Shorts department with no notice early in 1958.

Bernds offered Moe the cab driver part, and Moe in turn asked him to take on hire Maurer, who was trying to get a foothold in the film business. Bernds knew Maurer and considered him to be a talented artist, so he hired him as a sketch artists to help the special-effects department.

Note from me: The scene with Moe Howard helping the police is really enjoyable. I was impressed.

In the scene where Laura enters the train station (Los Angeles' Union Station) you overhear an announcement regarding a departing train. The announcer was none other than Paul Frees, as usual doing multiple voices in a given film.

Note from me: Not only does Paul play the scientist who investigates the space fungus, he gets to do his usual voice-overs.

20th Century-Fox used this low-budget film as a co-feature for its blockbuster release The Fly (1958) in the US. Fox did not put this into a television syndication package. The film has remained almost unseen in the US since its theatrical run.

Note from me: I DO remember seeing The Fly at the Roosevelt Drive-in, but I don't remember what the second feature was. It might have been this one!





When Retlinger, the cab driver (played by Moe Howard), is piecing together the sketch from elements on plastic sheets, this was actually an animation drawing board with acme pegs and animation cels.

Note from me: The scene in which Moe helps the police create a picture of the woman who rode in his cab is fun to watch. Moe carefully considers the woman's features from memory (the size of her nose, the shape of her mouth and her eyes, etc.). His dialog sounds very natural and realistic.
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Bud Brewster]

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IMDB has a trivia item that relates to this movie in their Mutiny in Outer Space listing.

I posted the trivia item in the All Sci-Fi thread for that movie — which happens to have a wonderful poster for the Italian release.

I had fun extensively enhancing the jpeg I found with Paint.net and then including it on that post. Trust me, the original jpeg does NOT look as good as my improved version shown below.

Here it is, along with the trivia item for Mutiny in Outer Space.


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~ This film about a deadly extraterrestrial fungus takes place on Space Station X-7. A previous film about a deadly extraterrestrial fungus was Space Master X-7 (1958).

Note from me: Ah-ha! The space travelers in this movie encountered the same fungus that was brought to Earth in Space Master X-7! Cool!
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)